Minutes of the meeting held on Saturday 4th September 2004 at BASC Head Office, Marford Mill, Rossett, Wrexham

SUMMARY

The following items were discussed:-  

Brent Geese Update

It was reported that the management plan was ongoing and the final draft would be available for comment by the end of the month.  The question was raised on the possibility of Brent Geese returning to the shooting species list but it was recognised that nothing was likely in the short term and further work is planned with DEFRA, European Union and other organisations to get a change in status.

Wildfowling Manual

The committee was invited to put forward what they would like to see included in future sections of the Wildfowling Manual.  A range of concepts were proposed, these included:-

• Publicity and marketing
• Database management
• Finding and purchasing land
• Local political lobbying
• Club mergers
• Getting other types of shooting for clubs
• Websites
• Disturbance (small section to be submitted by Research Dept.  It would be useful to include EU interpretation of disturbance plus relevant sections from Habitats/Birds Directives)
• In our defence
• Implications of designated sites (eg. SSSI, SPA, SAC, RAMSAR, etc)

Crown leases

The committee discussed the two leases offered by the Crown, a “12 month rolling lease” and a fixed term lease.  There was no definite outcome and the Committee agreed that further clarification was required.

Lead shot issues 

The committee was updated on the proposed Scottish lead shot legislation.  The new restrictions are expected for the 2005/06 season. 

Another awareness campaign is under way, together with the trade and other organisations for compliance with the England/Wales regulations. 

Cartridge performance testing continues both with 12 and 10 bores and now with 20 bores.

Some concerns are being expressed about the environmental acceptability of non-lead shot types based on tungsten and bismuth.  These are being closely monitored. 

Liaison with Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust

The committee were informed that a liaison meeting would take place on Tuesday 28th September 2004.

2005 Wildfowling Conference 

The committee were informed that no clubs had come forward to host the 2005 Wildfowling Conference.  It was suggested that BASC look for clubs formed in 1955 and if no club is willing to host it, hold the event in the Midlands or near Leeds/Harrogate.

Code of Practice/advice note – shooting from boats 

The committee was asked if shooting from boats should be covered by a code of practice or an advice note.  It was decided that an advice note should be sufficient.  The advice note is to be sent to the committee for comments on completion. 

Coastal rent 

The Committee discussed the rent per acre clubs are paying for salt marsh and it was clear there were huge differences depending on the quality of the marsh and the importance of the area to the club.  It was agreed that levels of rent were increasing across the UK and that clubs had to be prepared to pay for their shooting. 

Wildfowling

The committee were informed of the decision to drop the ‘News’ from the magazine title.  Two negative emails had been received with regard to the last issue but the committee in general were happy with the magazine apart from the proof reading mistake and the GCT address cover, which was the publisher’s error. 

CLA Game Fair

Gratitude was shown to the clubs responsible for organising the wildfowling stand at the CLA Game Fair this year.  The committee all agreed that the stand was extremely successful.  The 2005 stand will have representatives from a number of clubs including Leicester, Wash Joint Council and other local clubs.

DEFRA/Monitoring Shooting in UK

It was reported that DEFRA is looking to BASC/GCT to develop a proposal for the UK for an acceptable and achievable system of monitoring the annual shooting kill of all bird species for the UK.  This currently is being based on the approach developed in Scotland with the Scottish Executive for the shooting kill of geese.